August 2020
Is your accounting system working the best it can for you?
Ideally your cloud accounting system should be doing all the hard work for you not the other way around, leaving you more time to focus on other key areas in your practice.
We commonly see similar processing shortfalls across new clients, that with a bit of know how can be turned around relatively quickly.
At Cutcher & Neale our preferred cloud accounting system is Xero. It is a user friendly program which has the ability to access many 'add on' products available in the market, creating even further efficiencies.
We have put a few simple hints together to assist you and your practice to get the most from your Xero File.
Reconciling
Bank rules - Creating bank rules for each bank account is a fantastic way to automate many of your transactions that occur on a regular basis. Examples of these are income amount, wages and bank fees.
Setting up a bank rule in Xero will allow you to add detail in many different fields. The rule will then automatically apply these selections for you each time, creating better data accuracy.
Bank rules will save you time and create better efficiency as each reconciled transaction will be the same – less chance of you needing to fix any reconciling errors.
Cash Coding - Once you have created bank rules Cash Coding is your next step in automation. Cash coding allows you to reconcile transactions in bulk – no more clicking OK, OK, OK line by line in the reconcile screen.
A few clicks and you can reconcile 100’s of transactions at the same time, again increasing efficiency.
Entering and Paying Bills
Email to Bills - Attaching Source documents to Xero transactions is easy! The source document can then be viewed at any time in the future by other users including accountants straight from Xero.
If your suppliers send their invoices to you via email these can be forwarded straight from your inbox to Xero.
The best part? When set up correctly Xero can even fill in the contact name, date, due date, invoice number and invoice total automatically for you, leaving minimal data entry required.
Repeating Bills - Set up repeating bills for those regular transactions – set up as a draft to approve or automatically approve awaiting payment.
Batch Payments - Pay your suppliers in bulk with a batch file. In Xero you can create a batch payment file (ABA file) and upload to your internet banking. This can reduce data processing errors when in your internet banking.
Perfecting your data processing is not always easy but putting in the time at the start, will ensure long term benefits without hours of data processing.
If you are thinking your Xero File might need a review and tidy up why not get in contact with our Xero support team today.
If you need help in this area please do not hesitate to get into contact with our team.
